Page 29 (1/2)

“Your cock isn’t hanging out”

“Well, that’s a h that heavy drape thing there We obviously don’t have running water any curse—but there is a cha It’s a bit late tonight for all that The lady’sto go shame-come Then either pass out or cry myself to sleep”

“Why choose? Do both”

He opened the door and nodded “Yes, good point Why not? Oh!” He placed his hand on the empty keyhole inside the door Then looked on the other side He plucked the key from the lock and held it up “I’d keep this, if I were you Demons are wily fuckers They sneak into all the crevices” He raised his voice to yelling “Ask me how I know!”

He rolled his shoulders, like he was shaking it off

“It’s fine to leave your door open during the day; just make sure you or your lady’s h, even when you’re not here You don’t want to return to one of those fuckers lying in your bed Their ic… Well It’s hard to resist, and they like to push limits There is one skeleton key in this whole castle, and that is guarded by theas you keep your door locked, you’re safe”

Safe from the demons, maybe, but it was already clear I wasn’t at all safe from the beast

6

A soft rap sounded at my door “Milady…”

I frowned It was a woman’s voice

My eyes were swollen froo to bed, like Hadriel ordered, but thoughts of what I’d lost kept barging into my brain For the first time, I was alone Sable wasn’t beside me Hannon and Dash weren’t just down the hall Father wasn’t in the next room

Worse, they wereif I’d somehow saved myself I couldn’t leave them in suspense I couldn’t kill their sunshine just because the beast wanted to play et to them and at least assure them that I was okay It would be i I wanted was the beast coe—but I could at least tell theht I did not want to get caught in some sort of fuzzy purple costume at the back of a train

The probleh the wood, of course Hadriel had scared ht have to escape during the day

Before I tried anything, though, I needed to get the lay of the land

“Milady?”